Michigan Republicans Propose Tax Credits For Unborn Fetuses

Now that Michigan has eliminated tax credits for children, Republicans want tax credits for fetuses of 12 weeks gestation.

If the measure, outlined in two bills heard by the house tax policy committee on Tuesday, becomes law it would be the first of its kind in the US.

Critics said the proposal was “absurd” and described it as a backdoor way of trying to pass “personhood” legislation which would give rights to an embryo and crack down on abortion.

The Michigan house of representatives this year passed part of a three-bill package that would restrict access to abortion and heavily regulate clinic that performs them. Republican leaders have come under fire for banning a Democrat from speaking after she said the word “vagina” in a debate on an abortion bill earlier this year.

One of the main sponsors of the foetus tax credit bill, Jud Gilbert, a Republican representative of Algonac, said the rationale behind it was to recognise that mothers have additional bills to pay.

“You’re recognizing the fact that people have additional expenses, another person to take care of,” he told told Mlive. “Money saved there could be contributed to doctor’s bills and all kinds of things.”